Highway guard for wet traffic lines



Feb. 4, 1958 R, comm 2,821,950

HIGHWAY -GUARD FOR WET TRAFFIC LINES Filed April 3. 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet1 mvENTBii ATTORNEY Feb. 4, 1958 R. e. CORBIN HIGHWAY GUARD FOR WETTRAFFIC LINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 3, 1956 INVENIQR W a 16W QK9114. LO.

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ATTORNEY United States Patent i HIGHWAY GUARD FOR WET TRAFFIC LINESRobert G. Corbin, Huntingdon, Pa., assignor to Wald Industries,Huntingdon, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 3,1956, Serial No. 575,891

6 Claims. (Cl. 11663) This invention relates to devices temporarilyapplied to wet trafiic lines, such as painted centerline markings forhighways, and more particularly it relates to guards for wet lines whichare of such configuration that they will createthe impression, in themind of the motorist, that serious tire damage will result if they arerun over, so that the motorist will tend to stay clear of the wet lineand 'the guard will efiectively perform its intended function.

As the guards, in accordance with the invention, may

be made of such harmless materials like rubber or plastic or the like,there will be no actual damage even if a driving situation is such thata motorist is forced upon 'special'occassion to contact the guard withthe vehicles tires.

.Priorto the present invention, wet line guards have been made in formswhich are symmetrical or substantially symmetrical and which willstraddle a wet line. Such prior guards are adapted to be arranged overthe wet line in more or less precise patterns and more or lessconsiderable care is taken in their placement.

It is an object of the instant invention to provide a simple wet lineguard which will effectively protect a wet traffic line.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide a simple andharmless wet line guard which creates the impression in the mind of themotorist that serious tire damage will result if they are run over, sothat the motorist will tend to stay clear of the wet line.

It is still another object of the instant invention to provide a wetline guard of simple configuration from which projects harmless, butdangerous appearing projections.

It is a further object of the instant invention to provide anon-symmetrical appearing wet line guard with great versatility ofplacement so that it is effective in any one of a great many differentpotential positions.

Other objects and the nature and advantages of the instant inventionwill be apparent from the following description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a blank or preform from which a wet line guardin accordance with the invention may be made, the dotted linesrepresenting fold lines to be used in forming the final guard from theblank;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the formed guard with the points D, F, A ina common horizontal plane corresponding to a road surface;

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective, looking at one end of the guard withthe points D, F, and A resting on a horizontal plane;

Fig. 4 is a view of the formed guard, in perspective, in the position ofhaving the points B, C, and E in a horizontal plane;

Fig. 5 is a view of the formed guard, in perspective, in the scale ofFig. 4, and while it appears to be similar to Fig. 2, actually thepoints D, E, and C are in a hori zontal plane;

Fig. 6 is a view of the formed guard, in perspective,

2,82Lll Fatented Feb. 4, 1958 2 in the position of having points D, C,and A in a horizontal plane;

Fig. 7 is a view of the formed guard, in perspective, in the position ofhaving points D, F, and A in a hori zontal plane;

Fig. 8 is a view of the formed guard, in perspective, in the position ofhaving points F, A, and B in a horizontal plane;

' Fig. 9 is a view of the formed guard, in perspective, in the positionof having points E, F, and B in a horizontal plane; and

Fig. 10 is a reduced plan view of a modified form of blank withperforations formed therein.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the rectangular planular blank ofthe guard to be subsequently formed from it comprises two short sides ABand DE and two long sides BD and AB.

The main body portion of the blank comprises the parallelogram ACDF. Thedotted line CF is a fold line which divides the body portion into twobody triangles ACF and CFD.

The main body portion ACDF is integrally connected at each short sidewith a pair of triangular wings ABC and FED. The dotted line AC is afold line which divides the wing ABC from the body triangle ACF. Thedotted line FD is a fold line which divides the body triangle CFD fromthe wing FED.

The guard as shown in Fig. 2, and also Figs. 3 to 9, inclusive, may beformed from the blank illustrated in Fig. 1. When the material of theblank shown in Fig. 1 is rubber or rubber-like material or thermosettingplastic, it may be in a partially cured state which may subsequently bechanged to a fully cured state under the influence of heat and pressurewhile the blank is held between suitable forming dies corresponding tothe shape of the finished guard illustrated in Fig. 2, for example.Thus, the guard may be manufactured from blank by the well knownpost-forming process heretofore utilized for post-forming partiallycured thermosetting plastic planular sheets.

The guard shown in Fig. 2, for example, need not necessarily be formedfrom a planular blank as alternatively, for example, it may be injectionmolded from a granular raw material in a suitable die and the materialused for the guard may be a suitable thermoplastic such as polyethylenefor example.

After the guard is formed, as illustrated in Figs. 2 to 9, inclusive,the plane of the body triangle ACF will be approximately at right anglesto the plane of the body triangle CFD and the plane of the wing ABC willbe approximately at right angles to the plane of the body triangle ACFand the plane of the wing FED will be approximately at right angles tothe body triangle CFD.

Thus, it will be understood that the finished guard will be an integralstructure composed of a plurality of planular facets and projections,each of which has pointed or corner portions and each of which appearsto be of different shape or size depending somewhat upon the angle fromwhich the guard is viewed by the observer.

Figs. 2 to 9, inclusive, show some of the many positions which the guardmay take upon the highway. The appearance of the guard to the observer,however, will be infinitely more varied than the variations ofappearance in Figs. 2 to 9 would indicate, as by simply turning theguard as shown in any one of the views of Figs. 3 to 9, inclusive, in aconstant horizontal plane and about a vertical axis, the appearance ofthe guard continuously changes.

The guard in accordance with the instant invention need not be placed ina precise and uniform pattern along a wet traffic line to be protected.The guards may not be precisely uniformly spaced though they may be soplaced. Accordingly, it will be understood that the guard of thisinvention can be installed more rapidly along a wet lin asno specialcare needbetaken with respect to uniform or symmetrical placement nor'issuch'uniformpla'ce'me'nt desirable.

The non-uniform placement which may be effected economically andrapidly'mayc'o'ritribute to thelillu'sions which the guard itselfcreates in the mind of the motorist that'the sharp-appearingangularfprojecti'ons-niust be respected and the result accomplished isthat the wet line is best protected and in the most economicalmanner.

The guard, when fully'forme'd, is"nestable; that is, the guards prior toapplication'tothe highway may be nested for convenient storage in anysuitable container or magazine from which they may be manually orautomatically dispensed to association with a wet'lin'e on a highway forthe purpose of protecting the line in the mannenalready described.

Though theguardillustr'atedin Fig's. 2 to9, inclusive, is formed ofimperforate planes, the guard may be perfora'ted to decrease the surfaceexposed to-the wind. "For example, the guard maybe formedfrom theperforated blank illustrated in Fig. 10.

It will be obvious to those skilled in theart that various changes maybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention andthereforetheinvention isnot limited to what is shown in the drawings anddescribed in the specification but only as indicated in the appendedclaims.

What is claimed is:

l. A highway guard forwet'center'lines and lane lines comprising amulti-plane bodyportion,'said'bodyportion comprising a first solidsection and a secondsolid section, each of said sections having length,width and thickness, said first section having a mainfa'ce disposed inafirst plane in which said length a'ndwidth occur, said second sectionhaving a'main face disposed in-a second plane being at angular variancewith "said first plane "and "said two main faces being contiguous, and apair of wing elements, one of said wings being contiguous with the mainface of said first section of said body portion, the second wing beingcontiguous with the main face of said second section of said bodyportion.

2. The structure recited invclaim -1, said body-portion comprising apair of pla'nular triangulafsections.

3. The structure recited in claim 1, eaehof s'aidwvings being in theshape of a'trian'gle.

4. The structure recited in claim 1, each of saituwi'ngs lying in aplane arranged atan angle to theplane of the contiguous body portion.

5. The structure recited in claim lpsaid body portion comprising twocontiguous triangular sections.

6. The structure recited in claim 1, said body portion comprising tWolarge triangular sections, and each ofsaid wings comprising a relatively"small "triangular 'section, whereby the appearance of the guard on "thehi'gl1\'/ayto the observer willbe that "of "an integralStructure-Yeomposed of a plurality of planularfacets a'n'dproiectio'ris'ezich of which has pointed or corner 'portionsand-eachfdfwhich appears to be of differentshap'e o'r'sizedependinglsdrne- Whatupon the angle from whichtheiguard'isviewed by the observer.

References Cited in the .-fileof= this .patent UNITED STA'FES :PATENTS2,238,683 Elliott "Apr. .1"s, #1'9'41 2,-40 996'6 Voity 'O t. '22, I9462',483,734 'Neal Oct. 4, 1949 2,602,988 Klym July .15, r1952 2,712,809Clarke Jilly 12, -1955

